


"Oh, bother!"

by Batik



Series: The 221bees [1]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-16
Updated: 2012-08-16
Packaged: 2017-11-12 06:52:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/487951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Batik/pseuds/Batik
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John's not quite sure why Sherlock seems so fascinated by such a simple case.</p>
            </blockquote>





	"Oh, bother!"

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BeautifulFiction](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeautifulFiction/gifts).



> I wrote this as a thank-you for [Beautifulfiction](http://archiveofourown.org/users/BeautifulFiction/pseuds/BeautifulFiction), who kindly wrote a 221b for me. This is my first stab at a 221b, using a "B word" I initially offered to her for inspiration and which she (deviously?!) tossed back at me.

John couldn’t help but stare as Sherlock studied the stuffed animals in the display case, using a delicate finger to — almost — touch the tiger, the donkey, the kangaroo and the pig before turning his rapt attention to the bear. (Did John really see a touch of awe on the normally aloof man’s face?)

It was the bear — specifically, the lack of bear — that had brought John and Sherlock to this library, and it had taken almost no time for Sherlock to identify the children’s assistant librarian as the person who had stolen the irreplaceable Winnie the Pooh plush from the book-filled home it shared with its Hundred Acre Wood pals.

“Really quite obvious,” Sherlock said. “From his red shirt to his ‘Chris R.’ name tag — no, ‘Christopher Robin’ is not his given name — he was practically wearing a sign proclaiming his guilt.”

Later, John suspected he knew but still had to ask why Sherlock had taken the simple case.

“Pooh was my introduction to bees,” Sherlock said, giving John a real smile that was as rare as the toy the detective had recovered. “I suppose it all comes of liking honey so much.”

John was charmed by how much that explanation told him about Sherlock, but he covered it with a slight roll of his eyes and a muttered, “Oh, bother!”

**Author's Note:**

> The New York Public Library in New York City has custody of the stuffed animals that originally belonged to Christopher Robin Milne and inspired his father, A.A. Milne, to write the Pooh books. More about them can be found [here](http://exhibitions.nypl.org/treasures/items/show/28)  
> .


End file.
